The NCEMNA Nurse Scientist Monthly e-Newsletter

NANAINA Website

May 2006 Edition



	Nurses suffering compassion fatigue Study Puts Focus on American Indians' Hypertension Nurses Say They Are Uniquely Positioned To Lead Patient-Safety Initiatives At The Bedside Brain Scans Get at Roots of Prejudice

NCCU to host talks on health disparities

DURHAM -- Black women are more likely than white women to get breast cancer, and more likely to die from it. Infant mortality rates are higher for blacks than whites or Hispanics. And the rate of HIV infection is more than 100 times higher among blacks in North Carolina than whites.

Those and other racially-based health disparities will be scrutinized by health care professionals and others June 12 at N.C. Central University.

The Health Disparities Conference will include presentations by researchers from NCCU, UNC and Shaw University.

"We really do want it to be an enrichment and a networking event, not just for us but for the community and service providers as well," said Walter Charles, an associate professor of psychology at NCCU and one of the conference's organizers.

The session will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the School of Education auditorium at NCCU .....Full Story

Nurses suffering compassion fatigue

The emotional stress of working with sick and dying patients is taking its toll on the mental health of nurses, says a researcher studying a phenomenon known as "compassion fatigue."

Typically associated with psychologists, social workers and paramedics, compassion fatigue refers to the emotions, behaviours and other psychological effects of dealing with patients in pain and suffering.

And it can also have a significant impact on nurses, says Brenda Sabo of Dalhousie University, author of a paper in the June issue of the International Journal of Nursing Practice.

"We’re hearing their stories and experiences, and they can have an impact on us," says Sabo, who has also worked as a nurse since the 1970s.

It’s not clear what causes compassion fatigue — which can lead to emotional and health problems, while also affecting nurses’ professional and personal relationships — or why some nurses experience it and others don’t.

Sabo .....Full Story

Study Puts Focus on American Indians' Hypertension

Study Puts Focus on American Indians' Hypertension Differences are emerging between the sexes, and tribes FRIDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) -- Factors linked to race and gender can boost the risk for high blood pressure in American Indians, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed data collected from more than 4,500 American Indians from Arizona, Oklahoma, and North and South Dakota who took part in the Strong Heart Study at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. The overall annual incidence rate of hypertension was 6.4 percent -- 6.7 percent in men and 6.2 percent in women. Prehypertension at the start of the study, albuminuria (high levels of albumin in urine, a sign of kidney problems), diabetes, obesity, waist-hip ratio and percent of body fat were significantly related to the onset of hypertension. "We found that within this population, there were significant gender differences in which risk factors were more significant predictors of hypertension .....Full Story

Nurses Say They Are Uniquely Positioned To Lead Patient-Safety Initiatives At The Bedside

Today's Florence Nightingales may be suffering from ‘Compassion Fatigue'. Part of the problem is a lack of accurate instruments specific to nursing. Many may find themselves having to deal with the phenomenon in silence.

A study published in the most recent issue of International Journal of Nursing Practice (IJNP) reported that compassion fatigue has emerged as a natural consequence of caring for clients who are in pain, suffering or traumatized.

Published by Blackwell Publishing in the June 2006 issue of IJNP and authored by Brenda Sabo - Doctoral Nursing student and Adjunct Professor of the School of Nursing in Health Outcomes at the Dalhousie University in Canada - this paper sheds light on how nursing work might impact the health of nurses by exploring the concept of compassion fatigue.

Health outcomes - and in particular, patient health outcomes - have become a driving force within the health-care delivery industry .....Full Story

Brain Scans Get at Roots of Prejudice

Liberals' minds lit up differently when thinking about conservatives.

WEDNESDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- The human brain may have a built-in mechanism for keeping racially or politically distinct groups apart, a new Harvard study suggests.

U.S. researchers observed the brain activity of liberal college students who were asked to think about Christian conservatives. As they did so, a brain region strongly linked to the self and to empathy with others nearly shut down, while another center -- perhaps linked to stereotypic thoughts -- swung into high gear.

"It's as if you think that 'they' don't think like you do -- it's like you believe they are governed by a different set of rules when they think," explained study author Dr. Jason Mitchell, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University's department of psychology .....Full Story


Editor Hilda Richards, EdD, RN, FAAN National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations 6101 West Centinela Avenue, Suite 378, Culver City, CA 90230 Phone: 310-258-9515 Fax: 310-258-9513 Website: www.ncemna.org

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